canadian speedway

Jimmie Gibb was born on August 17th 1911, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

One of the few Canadian riders ever to have made his mark in world speedway, Jimmie was usually based in California and began racing at Lincoln Park, Los Angeles in 1931. He rode at tracks all over the U.S.A. and appeared for West Ham in 1938 and 1939 before serving with the Canadian Air Force.

He combined his post-war career, with working on Hollywood film sets as a technician and was tempted back to speedway in Britain by Wimbledon in May 1949, joining a team struggling at the bottom of Division One. Although he was unable to prevent the 'Dons' collecting the wooden spoon, he did provide some solid scoring which made the Plough Lane club a more attractive proposition on away tracks, hitting double figures five times during the latter part of the season and scoring a maximum against Harringay in his final average of just over seven points per match.

Although he did not ride in Britain in 1950, Jimmie returned for a second short spell in June 1951, helping the 'Dons' to a third place league finish and a famous National Trophy victory over clear favourites, Wembley.